Ancient Roman mass grave shows its army’s ethnic diversity
Among its many exploits, Rome had one of the most organized and successful military forces in history. Its organization and deployment helped consolidate the empire’s centuries-old rule over the Mediterranean, Western Asia, North Africa and Europe. In Croatia, archaeologists have discovered a mass grave dating from the third century CE that points to another key to Roman military strength: the diversity of its soldiers. Their findings are detailed in a study published in the journal PLOS One.
Researchers located the skeletal remains inside ancient water wells discovered near Osijek, a town in eastern Croatia located about 10 miles from the Serbian border. Under Roman occupation 2,000 years ago, Osijek was known as Mursa. From around 235, Rome entered a period known as the Crisis of the Third Century. For nearly 50 years, the empire existed as three separate warring polities and almost entirely collapsed due to economic, political, and military tensions. Historical records indicate that Mursa was the site of one of the many bloody skirmishes of this era around 260 CE.
In 2011, excavation work revealed the complete and preserved skeletons of seven adult males in a water well converted into a mass grave. Subsequent bioarchaeological examinations, including radiocarbon analysis, indicated that the bodies dated back to the second half of the third century. The men ranged in age from 18 to 50 and all had life-threatening injuries, including puncture wounds, rib fractures and blunt head trauma. With the additional discovery nearby of a Roman sestertius coin minted in 251 CE, experts now believe the men likely died at the Battle of Mursa in 260 CE.
These victims, however, did not involve local residents of Mursa. Genomic analysis revealed that none of the soldiers shared ancestry with neighboring Iron Age populations, meaning they were not native to the region in which they died.
“The observed genetic diversity may reflect the Roman Empire’s reliance on heterogeneous military recruitment, corroborating historical evidence of the integration of ‘foreign’ groups into imperial forces,” the study authors wrote, adding that their evidence is also consistent with late Roman armies’ incorporation of full-time professional soldiers from the Sarmatians, Saxons and Gauls.
This is also far from the first genetically diverse mass grave discovered by archaeologists. Researchers have cited similar burial patterns in other ancient Roman regions, including Skopje, Macedonia, as well as tombs linked to Napoleon’s Grande ArmĂ©e. Rather, it is the genetic differences that reinforce the theory that these bodies belonged to soldiers who died in combat.
“The coexistence of very diverse genetic origins among the genetically analyzed individuals reinforces the interpretation of these burials having militaristic origins,” write the authors of the study.
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